Volunteers load a van with donations of food for charities at the Food Bank Against Hunger center in Lisbon (AFP Photo / Patricia De Melo Moreira) / AFP

As austerity continues to wreak havoc for families in Portugal, people are turning to volunteer charities to provide them with food parcels. Charities are now essential in the lives of increasingly deprived sectors of the population.

Re-Food, the brainchild of Hunter Hadler, supports families
overwhelmed by bills and mortgages, collecting unsold food from
participating local cafes and restaurants who would otherwise be
throwing out perfectly good products at the end of the day.

“We have people who suddenly don’t have work and don’t have
income – it’s a harder thing for them to take,” Hadler told
RT’s Sara Firth.

What started as a solo operation, with about 30 restaurants on
board, has grown into an organization with hundreds of volunteers
and over 150 restaurants and cafes helping the cause.

While unemployment has dropped in the country slightly, having
decreased to 16.4 percent in the second quarter of 2013 from 17.7
percent in the first quarter, it still remains horrendously high
– above average for even the recession-devastated Eurozone – and
people, including those from middle-class backgrounds, who are
suddenly pushed out of work, are turning to the charity for help.